Arachnophobia
by Rosie2009
Summary: Evie returns to her and Mal's shared room to find that a small and brown visitor has come to their bathroom. Sisterly or best friend antics and absolutely no romantic sentiment.


Evie stumbled into her and Mal's shared room, her entire body reflecting precisely just how exhausted she was.

"Hi, Walking Dead. Don't eat my brains, 'kay?" Mal teased from her spot upon her bed where she sat playing on her phone. Evie grumbled something in response before she fell face-first on her bed in pure fatigue.

"How was your day?"

Grunt.

"That bad, huh?"

Evie nodded her head against the quilts, not knowing if Mal could see her agreement or not.

"Why don't you come over here and talk about it if it was that horrid?" Mal patted the spot nearby her on her own bed.

Evie slid off of her bed with such dramatic effort that Mal couldn't help but chuckle.

The bluenette then proceeded to trudge over to Mal's bed, and she flopped down on it just as she had on hers. The green-eyed girl grinned, reaching up and stroking Evie's hair soothingly.

"So go ahead and tell ol' Doc Mal what's ailing you," Mal instructed, laughing a bit at her own attempts at being humorous.

Evie turned her head over to the side so that she could look at her sister.

"My day has royally sucked." Mal raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds serious. You normally don't lower yourself to 'Mal Words.'" Evie finally rewarded Mal's attempts at drawing out happiness with a small smile.

"Mal Words" had been Evie's dubbing of anything that was even slightly inappropriate or uncouth to say in polite conversation. Which included lots of Mal's vocabulary.

"But really. Tell me about it." Evie sighed before beginning her ultimate tale of woe.

"Well, I ran into Chad Charming and jerk face self and he's hitting on me again."

"I thought he was with Audrey."

"You know their relationship doesn't matter a bit to him. At least, until she finally gets fed up with all of his cheating." Mal nodded in solemn agreement. Even though she didn't like Audrey, she didn't think the occasionally snobby girl deserved that.

"I've got finals coming up that I'm kind of lowkey freaking out about, I've got a big project coming up for Chemistry, the regular school grind is just grating on my already fried nerves. Oh, and I've got three more orders for dresses, which is-"

"Gosh, E! Three more on top of the thirteen you've already got to get done by next week?" Mal questioned in complete shock, the arm holding her phone going limp and falling to her side as she stared at Evie.

"It's actually three more on top of sixteen," Evie guiltily corrected.

"Evie, you are overworking yourself _again_," Mal informed her, accentuating the "again" with a light smack to the back of Evie's head. Evie huffed in response.

"I know… But I can't really do anything about it."

"A good start would be setting a maximum amount of dresses that you will work on at a time."

"But I've got to please my customers…"

"The first thing you need to think about is pleasing yourself," Mal told her, attempting a wise smile as she looked down at Evie. It was so out of place on Mal's normally mischievous face that Evie's first impulse was to laugh.

"I guess…"

"And to do that, you probably need something to help you relax," Mal leaned down to her level and raised an eyebrow. Evie reached her hand out and grabbed Mal's shoulder, squeezing feebly in the midst of her tired state.

"You think you could stumble in there and get yourself a shower? Would you enjoy that?" Mal questioned in a tone that almost seemed as if she were talking to a child.

"A shower would be nice," Evie nodded her head.

"Well, go do it. Hopefully you won't be a zombie anymore by the time you're out," Mal grinned, winking as she picked her phone back up from its place on the bed.

Evie was glad that Mal was at least trying to make jokes and stay positively upbeat. It certainly made her feel better even if she was exhausted.

She stuffed her face back in the quilts, trying to work up the energy required to drag herself off the bed. Finally, after much stockpiling of determination, Evie got up and headed for the door on the other side of the room.

Evie walked into the bathroom tiredly, her mind set upon that nice, hot shower Mal suggested so that she could alleviate all of the stress of the day. After she sat her phone down on the counter nearby the sink, she kicked her shoes off, and, as she always did, she found her favorite shampoo and conditioner so that her hair would be especially bouncy and soft. After all, just because she was exhausted, she didn't get special privileges to look like a slob.

She was just about to undress when out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something small and brown sitting in the floor. Evie stopped in her attempts to unzip the back of her dress and she focused on the shape on the tile of the bathroom.

There, not two feet away from her, was a spider of unbelievably large proportions.

Evie gasped and she stumbled backward, her exhaustion completely forgotten. She could barely suppress the scream that was almost certainly going to escape when it skittled toward her. Evie backed away slowly and grabbed the water tank part of the toilet to help herself up onto the seat so she could maybe be away from the disgusting little creature.

She pulled herself up and sighed in relief as she perched uncomfortably on top of the porcelain throne. Hopefully, it would crawl away somewhere she wouldn't have to see it anymore and she could take her shower in peace.

However, after about five minutes, it was evident that it obviously wasn't going anywhere.

So she enacted Plan B- call in reinforcements.

"Mal?! Come in here with your shoe!"

"An odd request, but okay. I didn't know you were having a party and my plus-one had to be some sort of footwear," Mal replied jokingly, her voice muffled behind the door. Evie watched as Mal opened the door and walked in.

For a moment, Mal just stared at her, her stare blank and an eyebrow raised.

"Um… Any particular reason you're standing on the toilet? I'm pretty sure you have to sit on it, E," Mal commented, chuckling at her own remark as she casually looked at the shoe in her hand.

"Mal! I seriously need you to squish this spider!" Evie told her desperately, the panic seeping into her voice.

Mal looked at her quizzically.

"And where is this spider?"

"Right beside you!" Evie pointed, freaking out a little bit as she saw the spider move a few centimeters near Mal's bare feet.

Mal immediately sobered and she looked down beside her with some foreign emotion on her face. As soon as Mal spotted it there in the floor nearby her, Evie was nearly knocked off of her place on the toilet.

Mal was currently clinging onto her and trying to find some way to get on the toilet with her. Evie was wiggling around, trying to stay balanced as Mal continued to attempt to climb.

"Mal, why aren't you squishing it?!"

"It's the biggest friggin' spider I've ever seen, and you expect me to just squish it like it's some kind of ordinary bug?!" Mal raised her voice anxiously.

"Well, yeah!" Mal soon decided she wasn't going to be able to get on the toilet with Evie, so she settled for hanging onto the taller girl's legs for dear life. Evie sighed a bit as she grabbed Mal's shoulder with a hand in an attempt to comfort both of them.

"We gotta get out of here," Mal told her, looking around as she spoke and trying to spot a way around the spider that was right in the middle of the floor.

"How are we going to do that with small, fat, and fuzzy sitting right there?" Evie questioned, in nigh hysteria.

The spider could get on her. All of its nasty, crawly, creepy legs climbing up her leg, and it surely had huge fangs that at any point could take a giant bite out of her.

"What if we eased along the edge of the room and snuck out through the door?" Mal suddenly interrupted her temporary lapse of sanity. Evie nodded her head slowly, eyeing the escape route eagerly.

Mal carefully stepped aside from Evie, reaching up and grasping her hand tightly. She moved along the wall, and Evie gently stepped down from her position on the toilet. They then both continued shimmying their way over to the doorway, with their eyes trained upon the spider.

"Do you think we're going to make it past it?" Evie asked, her voice low so she perhaps wouldn't provoke the eight-legged menace to come after her. Mal never took her eyes off of the hairy thing as they slid along the wall at the pace of a snail.

"Hopefully. If not, then it's been nice knowing you, E," Mal murmured under her breath.

They promptly reached the door and as soon as Mal began to back out, the spider leapt into action crawling toward them at a fast pace. Evie screeched, and Mal nearly fell on her behind in her haste to get out the door.

Evie pushed past her impending doom and hurried out the bathroom door. Mal quickly shut it and both girls sighed in relief.

They shared a glance and chuckled breathlessly.

"I think we did it," Mal grinned, her eyes sparkling with the entire excitement of their previous encounter. Evie returned her smile easily, but it quickly dissipated upon the realization of their current predicament.

"But now we've got a spider in our bathroom." Mal's happiness disappeared almost as soon as it came when Evie spoke those dreadful words.

However, after a moment of thought, Mal looked back at her with a positively wicked smile.

"Don't worry, I think I've got just the thing," the purple-haired girl told her, increasingly resembling the Cheshire Cat.

That was really concerning.

…

"Mal, are you really sure this is going to work?"

"Evie, honestly. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Well-"

"That was rhetorical."

Evie truly couldn't see how a pillow fortress, tongs, two big oven mitts, and a can of pepper spray were going to help their situation, but she put her faith in her sister in hopes that perhaps Mal knew what she was doing. It was almost like they were waging war on the spider.

Evie hated the spider, too, but it really just made her want to crawl into her bed and hide under the blankets. It most assuredly didn't inspire feelings anywhere close to Mal's overwhelming hostile fight mode.

"Okay, so I think everything's set up," Mal placed her hands on her hips and looked down at her handiwork. Evie huffed from her position in the middle of the pillows.

"Are you sure you really want to invoke its wrath?"

"This is a spider. Not a wolverine," Mal rolled her eyes, throwing her hands out in a gesture that conveyed just how ridiculous she thought Evie was being.

Evie sighed and looked at the bathroom door somewhat fearfully. She really, really, really didn't want that door to be opened.

All she had wanted was a shower. Was that truly too much to ask?

"Okay, so I'm going to open the door, and when I do, have the pepper spray ready," Mal instructed, cracking her knuckles in preparation. Evie stared up at her, wide-eyed. "It's going to probably-"

"You want me to spray it?" Evie interrupted, her disbelief evident in her tone. Mal eyed her strangely but nodded her head.

"Yes… It's probably going to try to attack when I open it, so be-"

"_You_ want _me_ to spray it?" Evie interrupted once again, completely against the idea. Spraying it could just make it madder, and Evie certainly didn't want its disgusting little eyes considering her a primary target.

"Evie, don't chicken out on me now," Mal pleaded, walking over nearby the pillow fort. Mal extended her hands, her fingers reaching out. Evie raised her own hands quickly and took Mal's firmly.

"Think of the nice, steaming hot shower you'll be having in just a few minutes. Those burning streams of water pounding on those sore muscles. Won't that be great?" Evie sighed and looked down, thinking about how wonderful it would definitely feel. She glanced back at Mal and noticed that she now had a grin on her face.

"So are you on board now?" Mal questioned, just a hint of a pouty lip edging out. It was almost laughable, and Evie couldn't help but smile at her.

"You are going to be the death of both of us," Evie scolded lightly but eventually nodded her head in agreeance with Mal's idea.

"Alrighty!" Mal let go of Evie's hands and stood in front of the door, pulling the oven mitts on each hand. Evie watched carefully as Mal got into a fight stance.

"Opening the door in three," Evie gripped the can a little tighter, poising her finger on the button to spray, "two," she wasn't so sure about going through with this anymore, "three!"

And Mal opened the door.

And she screamed when the spider was right there in the doorway.

Everything fell into pandemonium at that point. Evie accidentally sprayed the contents of the can all over the floor just behind Mal. When Mal stumbled backwards to get away from the arachnid, she started slipping and sliding on the slickness caused by the spray, quickly followed by her crashing onto the ground in front of Evie.

"Mal! Get over here!" Evie grabbed at her arms desperately, trying to pull her over the pillow barrier. It didn't take Mal long to recover from the shock of falling, and so she quickly got on her hands and knees and clambered over the cushiony wall.

As soon as she was over the pillows, Evie grabbed her arm tightly, pulling her near her as they watched the nasty little brown thing on the floor. Mal groaned quietly as they both hid the best they could.

"Good grief, you'd think this thing was invincible or has supernatural powers," Mal proclaimed, completely frustrated with the entire situation.

"Yeah… Do you think we should just give up now and move out of our room and into another one?" Evie asked her, half-serious in her inquiry.

"Evie, this is our room, not that pest's. I'm going to go get the boys to come squish it." Mal started to get up, but the spider moved a bit when she arose. She quickly returned to her previous spot.

"Or I could _not_ go get them."

If it had been any other situation, Evie probably would have laughed at Mal's sudden cowardice that was so opposite of her usual self. But in this particular instance, Evie could completely sympathize. Evie took her hand gently, squeezing lightly as they both sat for a moment.

Mal looked over at her and smiled softly, one of her few and far between genuine smiles that were reserved especially for very few people in her life.

For a moment they just sat there, staring at the creature some more, but before long, Mal practically scared Evie out of her skin with her emphatic exclamation.

"I've got an idea! Let's text the boys!" Mal grinned widely, letting go of Evie and searching her pockets the best that she could considering she was lying on the floor.

"Mal?"

"What?" Mal responded, still looking for her phone.

"Your phone's over there on my vanity," Mal's eyes widened a bit as she glanced at the purple and green phone resting on the table that was frighteningly nearby the spider. However, she wasn't going to be deterred that easily.

"Well, what about yours?" Mal asked.

"I left it in the bathroom when I was getting ready to shower," Evie apologetically explained, grinning guiltily as Mal facepalmed in total exasperation.

"This is ridiculous."

"R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S," Evie chanted teasingly, glancing over at Mal mirthfully. As much as the purple-haired girl wanted to stay mad about the situation at hand, Mal couldn't help but chuckle over that.

"Yeah… Definitely R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, alright."

The spider suddenly moved toward their pillow fort, successfully frightening both of them. Evie stuffed her face into a cushion and Mal scooted back a bit.

"We seriously need help," Evie told Mal, her voice muffled by the pillow.

After a moment of shared silence, however, Evie jumped to attention.

"Hey, do you hear something?" Evie suddenly spoke up. Sure enough, there were footsteps approaching in the hall.

"I'm going to yell and see if whoever it is will come in here and save us," Mal informed her. Evie held her face in her hands ashamedly as Mal took in a breath to raise her voice.

"This is going to be embarrassing."

"Yeah, well, I'm long past the point of getting embarrassed about this. Right now, I just want to be able to come out from hiding.

"Hey! Whoever's out there?! Can you come in here and help us?!" Mal shouted, testing and seeing if the person outside would respond.

They were both quiet until the door suddenly opened and in came the best person to handle the job besides Jay or Carlos.

"What is all of this?" Lonnie asked, gesturing at the entire room with her eyes wide. Evie awkwardly smiled up at her.

"We're trying to handle a spider," Evie told her quietly, her entire face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree.

Lonnie, just like any other person that could've possibly stumbled upon the two of them, couldn't help but laugh at the entire setup. And so she did. She laughed so heartily that even Evie in her terribly ashamed state couldn't help but laugh along with her.

However, Mal didn't share quite the same amused sentiment, and rather simply raised an eyebrow, looking at the Chinese girl.

"Well, are you going to squish it, or are you just going to sit there and laugh like it's the funniest thing you ever saw?" Mal asked, completely unimpressed with Lonnie's mirth at their expense.

Suddenly, Lonnie sobered and looked almost offended.

"Squish it?! No! We can't do that! I'm going to set it free," Lonnie announced, walking over to the spider. Mal and Evie gawked at the scene before them as Lonnie proceeded to pick up the spider by its legs. She opened the window with her free hand and she gently sat it on a nearby bush.

"There you go, little one. Go live in the wild where you belong," Lonnie happily waved at it, shutting the window gently as she watched it from behind the glass.

"Why did you let it go?" Mal finally inquired. Evie looked at Mal and then back at Lonnie, her gaze communicating a similar question.

"Just because they're little and creepy and crawly doesn't mean that they don't have feelings and a mind of their own," Lonnie shrugged. After a moment of awkward silence in which Mal and Evie were mentally questioning in what world was Lonnie a spider-sympathizer, Lonnie threw them both a grin.

"Welp, I guess I'll leave you girls to it." Lonnie then went about her merry way out the door.

Once she was gone, Evie shared a glance with Mal.

"Definitely not what I expected and not quite what I hoped for," Mal finally spoke.

"Me neither."

…

That night, Mal and Evie were reclined on Evie's bed, Mal peacefully working on a sketch and almost asleep as Evie quietly read a book and played with Mal's hair gently. Mal was enjoying the attention she was getting from her sister greatly, even if she'd never admit it.

The mess of pillows and spray all over the floor was cleaned up and Evie finally had gotten that shower she had longed for so badly. The entire room was heavy with the combined scent of Evie's perfume and pepper spray stink.

The two girls really couldn't detect the stench anymore, though. They were both mostly used to it at this point.

Ultimately, everything was completely calm and silent except for their occasional mundane chatter.

However, all that changed within just a few seconds.

"Girls!" Jay and Carlos suddenly burst into the room. Evie paused in her calming ministrations and they both looked up, simultaneously curious and shocked at the unexpected arrival.

"Yes?" Mal questioned, her voice groggy from her state of slipping consciousness.

The two boys shared a wide grin and Jay held up a DVD. Mal couldn't make out what the title was or even what the cover had on it from her position.

"We found this really cool movie in the media center and thought you two might be interested. Or at least Mal would be," Jay told them.

"And what is this 'really cool movie'?" Evie curiously eyed the two of them, an easy smile playing on her lips.

"It's called _Tarantula_," Mal and Evie both froze in place immediately at the mention of the name, all muscles tensed as they shared a concerned glance. "It's really old, but it looks like a horror-thriller kind of movie."

"Y'know, giant spider takes over the world, eats people, destroys cities. The really crazy stuff," Carlos explained further.

"You wanna watch it with us?"

"NO!" the two girls screeched with perfect timing, both of their voices blending into one giant expression of negation as Evie grabbed her pillow and hid her head under it and Mal eyed them like a caged animal as she clung onto Evie the best that she could.

"Okay, okay!" Jay held out his hands in a placating gesture as both boys went out the door as quickly as they could manage.

Once they had left and had trekked down the hall for a considerable distance, Carlos looked over at Jay, an eyebrow raised.

"Dang, what's got into those two?"

"I dunno, you'd think they were scared of spiders."

"Mal and Evie? Scared of a spider? Man, no way. They used to be VKs, not pansies."

"Oh, well. It's a good thing that we're not scared of spiders. Right, Frosted Flake?" Jay questioned, ruffling Carlos' hair with a hand as he grinned widely.

"Yep," Carlos eventually agreed, but not before he had huffed and waved Jay's hand away, fixing his hair back the way it was.

However, they both stopped quickly upon the sight of a small, brown figure in the floor in front of them.

Both the boys and the spider were still for a moment, just watching each other soundlessly.

That is, until the spider moved a bit in their direction.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

**A/N: Finally finished this after what felt like **_**forever**_**! I hope you all enjoyed it. I know it wasn't my normal sappy, tooth-rotting fluff, but I thought it was an interesting idea nevertheless for not only Evie but also Mal to be afraid of spiders. Actually, this wasn't even the story I was originally intending to finish and release, but I just had more gusto for this one than the other. **

**Anyways, if you liked it, please leave a review/comment and let me know. It's super great to get feedback from you guys! It lets me know I'm doing my job right. :) **


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